Rln 01 23 14 edition

Listing of Harbor Area Chiropractors, Acupuncture and Pain Clinics p. 4

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

T

January 24 - February 6, 2014

CIGNA and Fraud to Blame for Rough Transition/ to p. 4

The Local Publication You Actually Read

he ILWU-Pacific Maritime Association Health Benefits plan aimed to seamlessly transition from one third party administrator to another in 2008. But the transition has been anything but seamless.

Healthcare providers on all levels have been affected, particularly small contractors such as chiropractors, massage therapists and acupuncturists, who have either seen their hours cut back or were laid off.

Random Lengths has been following the ongoing debacle of the ILWU health benefits plan for much of 2013. Details of how it happened have been lacking until the release of arbitration documents from the April 2013 inquest into the situation.

Random Lengths reported on the hearings that resulted in these arbitration documents in July 2013. ILWU representatives from throughout the coast attended the hearings to grill Zenith executives about their progress in resolving claims. At the time, they were barred from speaking about the proceedings. Even now, they are circumspect on what they reveal.

This arbitration hearing came a week after a dramatic demonstration in front of the Pacific Maritime Association in downtown Long Beach. Hundreds of picketers carried signs that read, “PMA is robbing pensioners of their healthcare” and “PMA is robbing widows and children of negotiated benefits.”

By this time, Random Lengths was hearing from local providers like acupuncturist, James Ko, who said 60 percent of his clients have an ILWU health plan.

“I’m in trouble,” acupuncturist James Ko said at the time.

“We have not gotten any payments from October to January. By January, a lot of our claims were rejected.”

Ko explained that 60 percent of his clients have ILWU insurance benefits.

“I leave messages,” Ko said. “I got two return phone calls for two claims, but I didn’t get much help on them (the two claims).

Business has gone downward sharply.”

The trouble began after the 2008 contract negotiations, when the ILWU-PMA Coastwise Benefit Committee decided to replace CIGNA as their health plan’s third party administrator.

In 2010, the ILWU-PMA board of trustees issued a request for proposals. The board, with representatives evenly split between those representing the union and the Pacific Maritime Association, deadlocked on whether to give the contract to Zenith American Systems or Benesys as the new third party administrator.

When Zenith was selected, they said they would staff its Coastwise claims office with experienced Zenith personnel, a key

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Community Announcements:

Harbor Area Youth Explorer Program Recruitment

Qualified youths, who are interested in learning about animal related occupations including animal handling, legal operations and veterinary practice, are invited to participate in the Youth Explorer Program recruitment meeting starting at 6 p.m. Jan. 24, in the Education Center of the P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village.

Participants must be at least 14 years old (must be 8th grade graduates) and not yet 20.

Explorers will work alongside professionals in their related fields, and learn through presentations and field trips about domestic animal, reptile and horse handling; marine animal rescue, urban wildlife, veterinary medicine, cruelty investigations and more.

Explorers are required to have a clean police record and good citizenship record, be willing to devote necessary time to attend monthly meetings, assist with emergencies and participate in community events; and have a desire to work in an animal related field. Explorers attending Long Beach Unified School District will receive credit toward their service credit graduation requirement. There is a $24 one-time registration fee to participate in the Explorer Academy.

Explorer meetings will take place, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on the second Friday of every month from February to May and on the first Friday of the month from June to October, at the ACS Education Center in Long Beach.

Venue: P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village Location: 7700 E. Spring St., Long Beach

LA Public Safety Summit

Youth, families, public safety leaders, neighborhood watch block captains and engaged neighbors will converge at the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council’s Interactive LA Public Safety Summit, starting at 12:30 p.m., at the Elks Lodge San Pedro.

Topics include prevention, education, identification and transportation.

Venue: Elks Lodge San Pedro Location: 1748 Cumbre Drive, San Pedro

LB Group Aims for Reduction of Senior Fall Risks

January 24 - February 6, 2014

Serving the Seven Cities of the Harbor Area

Senior advocacy groups, service providers, and emergency responders are invited to join the new Community Fall Prevention Leadership Group and attend the Falls Summit 2014, from 8 to 10 a.m. Jan. 29, at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach The Heart of Ida, a local nonprofit funded by the State Department of Public Health to study falls among older adults in Long Beach, will co-sponsor the community-wide strategy session to reduce first and subsequent falls among people older than 65.

One in three older adults will experience a fall each year. In Long Beach, this means more than 14,000 older adults will fall in 2014. The first fall is an important wake-up call. If the cause of the first fall is not addressed, there is great risk of a subsequent fall. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has built a rigorous falls prevention strategy. Referred to as STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths & Injuries), it is an evidence-based multi-tiered initiative proven to reduce falls in older adults.

The Community Fall Prevention Leadership Group will use the Falls Summit to explore gait and balance disorders, and community paramedics, among other topics.

Venue: John Parr Health Enhancement Center at St. Mary Medical Center Location: 1055 Linden Ave., Long Beach

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Budget Priorities Town Hall Meeting

The Los Angeles Board of Education will discuss budget priorities at a town hall meeting at 6 p.m., Feb. 5.

The board would like to increase the community’s understanding about California and Los Angeles Unified School District budgets, as well as gather community feedback on the priorities LAUSD should invest in.

Details: (213) 241-6389; www.laschoolboard. org Venue: Narbonne High School Auditorium Location: 24300 S. Western Ave., Harbor City

HARBOR AREA

Committed to independent journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for more than 30 years

Rancho LPG: Exhibit “A” for Regulatory Failure

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

For almost 40 years, local activists have fought against a perceived public safety threat at the Rancho LPG facility and a regulatory system that seems powerless to protect the public whose safety it is supposed to protect.

Just before Christmas, a major national review panel weighed in, essentially agreeing that the state and federal regulatory systems are badly broken. But the question remains: What next?

In 2012 alone, the federal Chemical Safety Board tracked 125 “significant process safety incidents” at U.S. petroleum refineries, including 17 in California. One of those incidents was a vapor cloud release followed by a fire at Chevron’s refinery in Richmond, Calif. on Aug. 8, 2012.

More than 15,000 nearby residents sought medical treatment as a result. The Chemical Safety Board launched a sweeping review, not just of Chevron’s practices at that one refinery, but of the entire regulatory framework, which allowed such a disastrous event to occur, along with so many others.

The draft report, released Dec. 16, concluded that an entirely new regulatory approach was needed, one focused on goal-based risk reduction as opposed to compliance with activity-based measures. Specifically, it concluded that existing regulatory regimes, “...rely on a safety and environmental management system framework that is primarily activity-based rather than goalbased risk reduction to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) or equivalent,” as well as being “static, unable to adapt” and failing to “effectively incorporate lessons learned from major accidents,” in part because they lack “the regulatory authority to require duty holders to address newly-identified safety issues as a result of such incidents.”

The report also included a recommendation to California’s governor and legislature to “Develop and implement a step-by-step plan to establish a more rigorous safety management regulatory framework for petroleum refineries in the state of California based on the principles of the ‘safety case’ framework.”

There was nothing surprising in any of this for local activists who’ve been fighting to get the Rancho LPG facility closed or relocated.

“We were elated to find your comments regarding more proactive safety measures,” community activist Janet Gunter wrote to Chemical Safety Board Chairman Rafael MoureEraso, but went on to point out that the term ‘practicable level’ “leaves a great deal of legal wiggle room for hazardous operations.”

She went on to cite some of the major examples of how this played out in the past, beginning with the questionable rationale and circumstances under which the facility was originally promoted and approved.

Retired oil industry consultant Connie Rutter was more to the point.

“Neither an agency-centered, nor a worker-

White smoke rises from the Chevron refinery during a controlled burn, the morning after the Aug. 6 toxic fire in Richmond, Calif. File photo.

centered safety program is adequate,” Rutter said.

“Both are needed, if a workplace is to be safe….

The point about Rancho is that there is no ‘fix’ that can make it safe. If there were, we would demand it. The only ‘safe’ solution to LPG is site it out where there are few people, so that fewer die when there is a release. LPG is explosive, volatile, flammable, and inextinguishable. Period.”

Two major incidents that happened since the report came out starkly illustrate the dangers involved, the first highlighting the physical dangers of LPG, the second highlighting how

effortlessly corporations dance around regulations and dance away from paying for any of the costs they impose on others.

First, on Dec. 30, 2013, a 100-plus car BNSF train carrying ‘Bakken’ crude derailed, exploded and burned 20 miles outside of Fargo, N.D. A Jan. 14 Wall Street Journal story discussing a total of three such incidents within the past seven months noted that, “Concerns about emergency responders helped prompt the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, continued on following page

Pacific Battleship Center Honors Dr. Wanda Austin on King Day

On Jan. 20, the board of directors of Pacific Battleship Center honored Dr. Wanda M. Austin with its inaugural Admiral Samuel Gravely Service & Leadership Award.

Before becoming CEO, Austin was senior vice president of Aerospace’s National Systems Group, which supports the national security space and intelligence community. Prior to that, she served as senior vice president of the corporation’s Engineering and Technology Group.

In 2009, Austin served as a member of NASA Advisory Council and U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee, both of which were White House commissioned. In 2010, Austin was appointed to the Defense Science Board. Austin is a member of the California Council on Science and Technology, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Academy of Astronautics. The Pacific Battleship Center confers this award among African American leaders in Battleship Iowa’s community, “who exemplify the trailblazing, courageous service of the late U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Samuel Lee Gravely.”

Gravely was the first African-American to achieve flag rank in the Navy. In September 1976, Vice Admiral Gravely assumed command of the Third Fleet. The Navy honored Admiral Gravely’s service by commissioning the guided missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG 107) in 2010. Austin is the inaugural recipient of the award. Photo: Betty Guevara.

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Rancho LPG: A Regulatory Failure or PHMSA, to warn that Bakken oil appeared to be more volatile than other crudes, which can burn but seldom have exploded.... The PHMSA is investigating whether Bakken crude might contain large amounts of gases and related liquids such as butane, propane and ethane.” Butane and propane are the gasses present at Rancho LPG. The fact that they are even suspected to explain why Bakken is so dangerous is a clear indication of the sort of danger San Pedrans have been routinely exposed to for almost 40 years now.

“This matters to us, because it may be an example of how dangerous butane is,” Rutter said. “The only reason there wasn’t more loss of life in the rail accidents is that the wrecks occurred in isolated spots.”

The second incident, on Jan. 10, was a chemical spill into West Virginia’s Elk River, polluting the water supply for 300,000 people.

It soon emerged that the plant involved had not been inspected in decades and that one of the company’s top executives was a convicted double felon. As the company’s apparent liabilities mounted, it was abruptly announced that the company would go into bankruptcy. It also would be bought out by a just-created company owned by the owner of Freedom Industries, which would have first claim on its assets after its liabilities were written off, explained MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Jan. 17.

“Here is the history of the current iteration of Freedom Industries,” Hayes summarized. “Born

Dec. 31, destroyed the water supply about a week later, and filed bankruptcy to escape creditors eight days after that. It’s like a shooting star that leaves a trail of lawsuits and toxic chemicals in its wake.”

But Gunter pointed out that the company that owns the Rancho LPG facility, Rancho LLC was created with just such an exit strategy in mind.

“They’ve taken the bull by the horns ahead of time,” she said. “They’re a subsidiary of the big, larger, Fortune 500 company, Plains All American. They already have an escape route built into their own structure. All they have to do is claim that the subsidiary is now defunct and bankrupt and there’s no further liability for Plains or anyone else.

“It also happened in West, Texas and in Megantic [Quebec].... Those communities are left without any financial insurance. In West,

Texas, they had a million dollar policy.”

Rancho once promised to disclose its insurance coverage to the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council, but reneged at the last minute several months later. No public agency has yet made a dent in gaining information about Rancho’s liability coverage.

Two other recent developments further underscored the vast disparities in corporate Exhibit A in Fallure/ to p. 7

Rebuilt Korean Friendship Bell Unveiled

By Joseph Baroud, Editorial Intern

Korean Friendship Bell Preservation Committee President Jay Park, right, presents Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino a miniature replica of the Korean Bell. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, left, poses with the Councilman and Park at the unveiling of the renovated Korean Friendship Bell. Photo: Betty Guevara.

Statue of Liberty. It was given as a symbolic gesture of peace and unity between the two countries in 1976. In 1978, it was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 187.

South Korea summoned the skills of Kim Chul-Oh, one of that nation’s top metallurgists.

Metallurgists are a dying breed. City officials didn’t believe the job could be done because there was a lack of craftsmen who possessed the needed experience and specific skill. Also, at the time, the city’s funds were depleted.

The Local Publication You Actually Read

SAN PEDRO—Officials unveiled the renovated Korean Friendship Bell Jan. 10, at Angels Gate Park.

Telecommunications entrepreneur Ernest Lee frequently visited the Friendship Bell, reminiscing on the joy he experienced as a child translating its South Korean inscriptions.

When Lee visited the bell a few of years ago, he noticed time hadn’t been kind. Cracks were beginning to form bell and the cultural paintings were beginning to fade. The sight moved him to lead the drive that ultimately restored the landmark, with the founding of the Korean Friendship Bell Preservation Committee.

Initially, the group was faced with the challenge of finding the expertise in completing the restoration project. The bell’s original creator was well into his 70s. The answer to their problems was in front of their eyes. One of Lee’s committee members had set out a 4-year-old magazine publication on a coffee table. An advertisement in the magazine caught the attention of the people who were there.

The ad promoted the work of Chai Dong-Hey and his firm Beom Jong Sa, “Manufacturers of Korean Bell of Friendship in LA.” The group decided to hire Chai Dong-Hey. The repairs cost more than $300,000. It took about 100 days to complete. Though it was finished in November, the bell was unveiled about a month later because the paint on the exterior was still wet.

The Korean Friendship Bell is a gift from South Korea to the United States. The bell is believed to have a similar significance as the

January 24 - February 6, 2014

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from p. 1

CIGNA and Fraud to Blame for Rough Transition reason for why Zenith was chosen over Benesys.

Zenith promised that they would also appoint a full time manager in a dedicated space or separate office, if needed.

CIGNA, which was playing the role of both administrator and provider, also played the role of sore loser after it was replaced. It immediately made its network of medical providers unavailable and chose to be uncooperative in transferring files to Zenith. CIGNA’s intransigence forced the ILWU-PMA Health Benefits plan to hastily switch to another network of providers—Blue Shield.

Other issues that hampered the health plan’s transition from CIGNA to Zenith was the fact

that CIGNA was still a largely paper system.

According to arbitration documents, this, and the failure of one of CIGNA’s automated contractors to keep to an agreed schedule on transferring data, set Zenith up to fail.

However, Zenith was well aware of these issues, and had provided what seemed like workable solutions, such as deploying Beacon Spyglass, a claims-adjusting software that required less training time for inexperienced personnel, while providing robust fraud detection.

But Zenith didn’t follow through on this proposal and instead ended up using ATLAS software, with no explanation of its comparative benefits.

Another issue was the fact that CIGNA elected

not to continue processing to the end of December 2012. CIGNA ceased processing claims Dec. 3, 2012, leaving Zenith with the backlog for that month. This resulted in an increase of unprocessed claims from the anticipated 15,000 to an unanticipated 89,000 claims. If that weren’t enough, Zenith discovered a box full of checks for providers without documentation that had to be traced back before being distributed to the

appropriate provider. This was but one box out of hundreds of other boxes shipped by CIGNA to Zenith.

At the end of 2012, staff attrition reduced Zenith’s stable of experienced personnel in San Francisco from about 20 to eight. To address the shortage, the board asked Zenith to hire CIGNA employees with experience handling the union’s claims. CIGNA rebuffed Zenith’s efforts by refusing to release the employees to be employed at Zenith without forfeiting their CIGNA severance pay. The earliest those employees could be hired and trained was early January 2013. Furthermore, a plan manager was not fully dedicated to the ILWU health continued on following page

In July 2013, hundreds of protesters picketed the PMA’s offices in Long Beach, prior to the July 16 arbitration hearings on Zenith America Solutions.

Photos: Slobodan Dimitrov.

One of the many impacts of the ILWU-PMA Health Benefits Plan is the recognition of chiropractic care and acupuncturists for treating work-related pain and injuries. Because of their inclusion in one of the best health care plans in California, the Harbor Area has one of the largest concentrations of chiropractors anywhere in the nation. The following is only a partial list of those still practicing in this area.

—The Editors

Acupuncturists

ATH Clinic, 647 W. 9th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 832-2288

January 24 - February 6, 2014

Serving the Seven Cities of the Harbor Area

Abby’s Acupuncture, 721 S. Averill Ave., San Pedro 90732 (310) 918-5484

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ABC Acupuncture, Nutritionists, Massage Therapy, 28633 S. Western Ave., RPV 90275 (310) 241-0947 Beijing Health Care, Chinese Medicine, 1300 W. 6th St., Ste. 3, San Pedro 90732 (310) 217-9088

Chang’s Acupuncture, 732 W. 9th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 832-3131 East West Healing Arts, 721 S. Averill Ave., San Pedro 90732 (310) 732-0158 Green Health Acupuncture, Massage Therapy, 150 W. 6th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 831-2202

Harbor Acupuncture, 29050 S. Western Ave., Ste. 128, RPV 90275 (310) 832-5722

KW Acupuncture, 1208 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 833-2009

Ko’s Wellness, 1931 N. Gaffey St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 832-1424

MM Acupressure, 802 W. 6th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 833-3333

Oda Halverson, PhD Lac, 28633 S. Western Ave., RPV 90275 (310) 241-0947 Pacific Natural Medicine, 1622 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 832-5579

PV Wellness Center, Massage, 26640 Western Ave., Harbor City 90710 (310) 530-0500 chicathienric100@yahoo.com continued on following page

from previous page

plan until late January.

Even with this, fallout from the mess that hit Zenith’s fan was just beginning. Those providers that were getting paid experienced a kind of sticker shock when they started getting paid– the cheaper Blue Shield rates rather the more generous CIGNA network rates– even though they were part of the Blue Shield network.

According to court documents, some providers told their patients that their benefits were being cut even though they had not been.

Claim denials were the result of providers sending the claims to the wrong address. A number of claims were denied because the Explanation of Benefits section of claimants forms were “obscure, wrong or unknown.”

Another culprit in the backlog of claims was that providers dumped claims previously denied

by CIGNA into Zenith’s system to see whether Zenith would pay them anyway.

As of October 2013, CIGNA-era claims totaled 286,000. ILWU-PMA Health Benefits Board of Trustee Executive Director John Barton, wouldn’t reveal the number of claims still in backlog to date, citing that he didn’t have permission from the board to speak on the issue.

CIGNA had to reprice all of the 2012 and earlier claims, requiring another interface with Zenith’s system, which could not begin to be built due to CIGNA’s lack of resources until late January 2013. CIGNA, according to court documents, also had not provided appropriate

information about eligibility leading to claims being denied or delayed to get further information.

CIGNA’s unprocessed claims contributed to Zenith’s needing more personnel to handle claims and calls.

The result was that claims were either wrongly denied or were delayed, the arbitration hearing found. In response, some providers balanced billing their patients for the services that would have been covered by the ILWU-PMA benefits plan. When these claims went unpaid, the providers turned them over to collection agencies, damaging the credit ratings of some workers, which in turn caused some workers to be denied loans or mortgage refinancing.

For Zenith, the mounting claims-processing problems and CIGNA intransigence formed a perfect storm of health plan participants, beneficiaries and providers overloading Zenith’s telephone system. The calls were in excess of 175 percent of what the Request for Proposals called for a third party administrator to be able to handle. This resulted in callers, providers and beneficiaries being left on hold for hours or until they gave up.

It was clear that the rank-and-file’s frustration was reaching a boiling point in a ILWU-PMA board letter fired off to Zenith American Systems in April 3, 2013. The letter sought assurances that the Request for Proposal obligations be met. The union trustees, fed up with the lack of seamlessness in the health plan’s transition, fired off a letter to Zenith that read in part:

from prevous page

Roya Nematollahi, LAC PhD, 1360 W. 6th St., Ste 150, San Pedro 90732 (310) 963-9929 San Pedro Healing Arts, Chiropractic, Integrated and Conventional Family Medicine, 1366 W. 7th St., Ste 4-B, San Pedro 90732 (310) 547-2197

Chiropractors

Elite Chiropractic & Sports Medicine, Physical Therapy, 28382 S. Western Ave., RPV 90275 (310) 832-8777 Epic Health Chiropractic, 615 W. 9th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 833-9900 Eric W. Melzer, DC, 660 W. 7th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 832-4476

Acuhealth Centers, Acupuncture, 1300 W. 6th St., San Pedro 90732 (310) 518-4189

Altamirano Chiropractic, Massage, Acupuncture, 601 N., Avalon Blvd., Wilmington, 90744 (310) 513-8059

Family Chiropractic & Acupuncture, Massage Therapy, 732 W. 9th St., San Pedro 90731 ( 3 1 0 ) 833-3819

Barahemi, Mansoureh, DC, 29050 S. Western Ave., RPV 90275 (310) 519-8877 www.naturalchiro.com

Gabriel Goldman, DC, Massage, Therapy, 505 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro 90731 (310) 547-1173

Bee Well Holistic Center, Medical Spas, Physical Therapy, 612 N. Avalon Blvd., Wilmington 90744 (310) 835-8000

Ghassemi, Romina, DC, 1534 W. 25th St., San Pedro 90732 (310) 548-5656

Bennett Chiropractic, 165 W. 6th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 548-4466 Bezelj, Yvonne Marinkovich, DC, 1851 N. Gaffey, St. San Pedro 90731 (310) 548-3172

Collins, Tim, DC, 803 Figueroa St., Wilmington 90744 (310) 830-0863 Crittle, John, DC, 1534 W. 25th St., San Pedro 90732 (310) 547-3000 Dynamic Physical Medicine, 8727 S. Western Ave., RPV 90275 (310) 547-4005 EastView Wellness Center, Acupuncture, 29211 S. Western Ave., San Pedro 90732 (310) 514-3740

fully eliminating the December 2012 CIGNA unprocessed claims and the checks it received from CIGNA. It has reduced its telephone call abandonment rate to three percent, which it maintains is an industry standard. It has devoted extra personnel to unprocessed claims and is reexamining whether it has the appropriate amount of personnel. By using only experienced personnel, training advantages of the Beacon SpyGlass not ILWU Health Care Delay/ to p. 17

Gilmore Charlotte, DC, PhD, 29000 S. Western Ave., RPV 90275 (310) 514-0277 Harbor Health and Spa, Massage, 29050 S. Western Ave., RPV, 90275 (310) 519-9690 Harmonic Life Center, Kirk Wright, DC, 757 W. 9th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 856-7999 Krynen Chiropractic, 123 East F St., Wilmington 90744 (310) 549-4999 LA Harbor Health Group, Massage, 643 S Butte St., San Pedro 90732 (310) 831-5700 Langdon Chiropractic, 836 W. 9th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 833-1343 Natural Health Chiropractic, 29050 S. Western Ave., RPV 90275 (310) 519-8877 Focus on Health/ to p. 17

January 24 - February 6, 2014

Cartmell Chiropractic, Acupuncture, 928 N., Western Ave. San Pedro 90732 (310) 519-8900

Farrell, Shannon, DC, 1294 W. 6th St., Ste. 203, San Pedro 90731 (310) 833-9339

Zenith put a positive spin and interpreted the situation as a turning point that allowed Zenith to meet with the board to devise an 18-point action plan. It was clear that Zenith took heart in the fact that the board understood that most of the problems were beyond their control, but seemed to overlook that Zenith was hired to solve a problem and were failing miserably up to that point.

According to Zenith, it has substantially reduced 2012 or earlier claims, including

The Local Publication You Actually Read

Absolutely Vital Chiropractic, 660 W. 7th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 832-4476

In addition to overburdened claims processors and ill-trained customer service representatives, there have been several IT setup errors, which reportedly have been corrected. Unfortunately, these errors generated angry and frustrated calls from members and providers to the Claims Office, the Benefit Plans Office and Union Officers. The office continues to be understaffed, customer service and claims processing problems continue to persist, and members and providers calling the office are still encountering wait times of 20 to 40 minutes on a daily basis. We’ve sent correspondence to our members containing the letterhead of an entirely different Union Trust Plan and checks are being sent to our members instead of providers. The Trustees demand an assurance from you that Zenith American Solutions intends to fulfill its promises during this period of transition, and thereafter.

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Latina Candidate Aims for Long Beach District 3

By Zamna Avila, Assistant Editor

January 24 - February 6, 2014

Serving the Seven Cities of the Harbor Area

Martha Flores-Gibson is aiming to represent Long Beach Council District 3, which is up for grabs at the April 8 Primary Nominating Elections.

Flores-Gibson is vying with Jack Rosenberg, Jim Lewis, Stephen Bello and Susan Price to represent the council district that termed-out Councilman Gary DeLong will leave.

Her priorities include: • Public safety, infrastructure and quality of life services such libraries and parks, and an aquatics hall for the Belmont Plaza Pool replacement.

• Addressing poverty, education, mental health, social services and jobs.

• District specific projects such as the 2nd Street and Pacific Coast Highway project, Naples Seawalls, and Beaches and waterways water quality.

Flores-Gibson has lived in Long Beach for 53 of her 59 years and is a retired counselor and social worker for the Long Beach Unified School District, where she worked for 24 years.

“I’m invested in the community,” she said.

“I have what it takes. I’ve worked in all levels of government. I can work with nonprofits together with the private sector and come to the table with solutions.”

Flores-Gibson is an immigrant from El Salvador, her mother brought her to the United States when she was six years old. They first moved, with her step-father, to Wichita, Kan. Within six months she learned English. She later earned a bachelor and master degree in social work, as well as a doctorate degree in education.

“My mother said, ‘You work hard and you are going to get ahead,” she said. “So my siblings— my two brothers and my sister and I—we worked hard. We worked hard on our grades, we worked at our workplace and we are all very successful individuals.”

Though much of her life has been dedicated to education, she is not a newcomer to politics.

Republican legislators in Sacramento persuaded Flores-Gibson to run against incumbent Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal in the 2010 and 2012 election for California State Assembly.

In 2010, Lowenthal won 56.6 percent to 43.4 percent.

“I didn’t run against Bonnie Lowenthal,” she said. “I ran against the dynasty of Long Beach …. Mind you, I had never run before.

I was handicapped by raising the funds.”

In 2012, Flores-Gibson was again defeated, with Lowenthal garnering 65.8 percent of the vote versus her 34.2 percent votes.

This time around she is looking forward to being elected and adding to the work of her predecessor. Rather than just changing what she believes need to be changed, she would like to continue and enhance the work of DeLong, she said.

“Gary DeLong, along with the mayor and the city council put together proposals in a difficult time was able to now have surplus,” she said. “We don’t want to misspend funds.

We want to use those funds in a conservative manner. However, the services that are critical needed must go on.”

Home to beautiful ocean views, shopping centers, parks, a popular university, a 6 veteran’s hospital and an upper middle class

community District 3 brings much revenue to the city’s budget. Flores-Gibson wants to add to long-term business growth.

“Our district is vital to all of Long Beach as well as Long Beach is vital to the 3rd District,” she said. “So, there is an exchange that happens and we need a healthy exchange.”

Though this may not be the time to do so yet, she would like to start an economical development committee, comprised of community members and expert consultants. The committee could bring businesses to District 3 that are eyesores to the community, such as the Seaport Village, near Second Street and Pacific Coast Highway, she said.

In the process, she hopes to bring cuttingedge businesses, such as engineering companies.

“How about bringing some of the technology that is in Northern California, the Silicon Valley, here, in these parts?” asked Flores-Gibson, rhetorically. “Then, you can come up with what is the next step of bringing stellar businesses to augment the businesses that are already here.”

One way to do this is to do away with regulations and taxes that strangle businesses, she said.

“I want them to have a gap where they are not struggling,” she said. “I rather have the revenue become a part of what makes them strong.”

But that also takes changing the culture mindset toward business, not just bureaucracy, she said.

“It’s a culture of saying to the outer cities, to the state of California and to the United States of America … that we in Long Beach and in the 3rd District are open to business.”

Nevertheless, Flores-Gibson, a registered Republican, understands that spending also is part of the equation when it comes to any community to prosper, especially when it comes to services such public safety and education.

“I believe it is really ethical to make sure that

Martha Flores-Gibson is running for the Long Beach Council District 3 in the April 8 primary elections.

File photo.

if it’s a life and death situation that we have the fire engines and the police officers to handle a crisis in the district,” said Flores-Gibson, whose district lost Fire Engine 8, due to a miscalculation in funds coming in from the state, this past year. “You can’t take away after-school program activities. When you take education and afterschool programs for the students, then it doesn’t provide them the gateway to opportunities. Those two services go hand-in-hand.”

Public safety and education are important to the economics of the city, especially now, with the realignment of non-violent criminals, she said. Beyond drawing funds from the court and pulling from other department, investing in public safety will in turn lead to less crime and more revenue for the city. Because, it is all related, she said.

“If you have gang violence and you have poverty, which one third of Long Beach is [in]

poverty, you are not going to get the businesses or the corporations that want to come and invest in this community,” she said.

Lowering crime rates is not limited to prevention and enforcement, training, rehabilitation, affordable housing and jobs must also be part of the equation. However, these efforts must be part of a private-public partnership, she said.

“You can’t say, ‘This is all your responsibility,’” Flores-Gibson said. “You can’t say that. This is all about partnerships.”

Another issue Flores-Gibson will have to deal with, if elected, is the continual saga that is the medical marijuana issue.

While she sympathizes with patients and believes they shouldn’t be denied treatment, she also questions whether it is an issue that should be dealt with at the city level.

“Shouldn’t it be in the hands of the public sector and private industry and the free enterprise?” she questioned. “Should it be in the hands of the city council or should it be in the hands of the businesses, which it is a business, no matter how you slice it and who it is for?”

So far, Flores-Gibson has garnered the endorsements of the California Women’s Leadership Association, a statewide group that believes in free market principles, and GROW Elect, a political action committee that recruits endorses and funds Latino Republican candidates for public office, among others.

Campaign contributions for her candidacy are still are being tallied.

“I believe I am the full package of understanding, mediation and I’m an advocate for our most vulnerable constituents, [who] are children, youth, vets and seniors,” she said. “I will work harder than anyone on that ballot and the voters can count on me to do just that….

Winning this seat means I’m committed not only to the 3rd District but to all of Long Beach”

TCC Helps Patients Navigate Obamacare

By Lyn Jensen, Contributing Reporter

As one of the South Bay’s oldest non-profit medical organizations, the Children’s Clinic Serving Children and Their Families (TCC) is weathering a new challenge—implementing the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

According to the organization’s Web site, outreach and enrollment teams have been organized to assist uninsured individuals and families with obtaining coverage.

“We were the first agency [in Long Beach] to be certified as an enroller and our Certified Enrollment Counselors [have] educated [about] 6,000 community members and to date have registered almost 3,000 uninsured into health insurance,” explained Penelope Leon, the clinic’s director of Development and Communication, via e-mail.

This is critical for South Bay patients.

“The population TCC serves is primarily working poor families, people who otherwise would have to choose between groceries and health care,” Leon pointed out. “If it weren’t for TCC these individuals would not have the

services they desperately need.”

She added no one is refused treatment due to inability to pay.

Out of about 35,000 clinic patients in fiscal year 2013, roughly 500 were from Carson. She said most of those were serviced at the Long Beach Memorial Center campus, which houses the oldest and largest of the eight TCC clinics “TCC provides health care and auxiliary services to the greater Long Beach area,” Leon noted.

This includes Carson and several other nearby cities, through its eight clinics in Long Beach.

Under the leadership of its current CEO, Dr. Elisa Nichols, TCC has transformed within the past 25 years from a small volunteer-run children’s clinic to a progressive system of health care that provides full services for all ages. The non-profit organization’s history goes back to 1939, when six Long Beach physicians and community members joined to provide medical care for underserved, low-income and uninsured patients. It now employs a staff of 280 throughout its clinic locations.

Leon stated that although the organization has grown exponentially, funding has remained fairly constant.

“Seventy percent of TCC funding is from patient revenues,” she said. “Thirty percent is from federal and private grants and individual donations.”

She also described how several cities have continued to support the clinic with community development lock grants despite tough economic times.

“Grants range from $5,000 to $60,000 and are categorized as core operating support,” she explained.

Some of those cities have recently included Carson, Compton, Signal Hill, Norwalk, Bellflower and Paramount.

Leon was careful to note that Carson did not provide the grants in fiscal years 2012 or 2013.

She said that recent funding from Carson came from “a different category.”

Call (562) 933-0400 to make an appointment or for more information.

King and Kent: Art in Action for Social Justice

from p. 3

Exhibit A in Faliure than 10 people who spoke, said Janet Gunter, who along with Rutter was one of four local activists who testified. Ron Conrow, manager of Rancho LPG, also testified.

Although Obama announced his executive order on Aug. 1, the failure to engage community participation, activist organizations or the academic community seemingly sends a clear signal that no significant change is wanted, expected or desired, and that corporate interests will continue to run roughshod over public health, safety and security. Yet, at the same time, what local activists had to say shed considerable light on the systemic problems involved.

“One of the points made in our testimony was the clear discrepancy between the risk management reporting to the EPA by Rancho vs Conoco Phillips (now Phillips 66),” Gunter informed Random Lengths via email. “The RMP [risk management plan] criteria calls for the worst case to only be the rupture of a company’s single largest tank of the most hazardous substance.

Both Phillips 66 and Rancho have Butane.”

This provides a crystal clear point of comparison.

“Phillips has approximately 13 million gallons total…the largest tank having the capacity for 5 million gallons of storage. For that tank they reported a 2-mile blast radius,” Gunter said. “Rancho…as you know…has their 12.5million gallon tank and reports a blast radius of .5 mile! The question…how could this have escaped scrutiny?”

The answer, apparently, is that there is no scrutiny whatsoever.

In her comments, Rutter cited four major regulatory problems, three of them systemic, applying to the entire regulatory process, and the fourth specific to the subject of LPG. While not necessary crafted for the purpose of protecting industry, rather than the public, they all appear to have that effect in practice. They are: (1) The first federal attempts at securing chemical facilities aimed to inform the public of hazardous materials, but did not set standards that would require a threat to be removed.

(2) When the Department of Homeland Exhibit A/ to p. 17

Mayor Foster’s Final State of the City Speech

In his last State of the City speech, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster at time waxed poetic he touted the city’s first budget surplus in 10 years. He made special note of the pressures of addressing immediate needs versus planning for the future.

“The dilemma is truly confronted when the pressure of today could impair the future,” Foster said. “Too often, that is how public policy is shaped: unsustainable public pensions are a great example of beggaring the future for benefits today; as are using one-time cash infusions to cover ongoing costs; the elimination of Redevelopment, another.”

Though his speech reflected an unwavering optimism, Foster took a more serious tone after he praised the Harbor Department’s clean air plans and dedication to improving public health.

“For many years the Harbor Department was run as if it were not a department of the City. Its impact on the City was often an afterthought. This is an unhealthy situation,” Foster said, to his successful November 2013 request to remove Harbor Commission President Thomas Fields. “...I’m confident that this Commission will pay closer attention to construction projects and provide greater harmony with City interests and continue to improve its financial discipline.” Photo by Diana Lejins

The Local Publication You Actually Read

January 24 - February 6, 2014

versus community power surrounding the issue of community safety. The first involves Rancho’s continued ability to hide its operations and failings from public view. The second involves a profound failure of public outreach.

Rancho has long dismissed critics by claiming a spotless regulatory record—an exaggerated, but more importantly meaningless claim, given how poorly regulated it is. Early this past year, the EPA put an end to all that when it announced a sweeping enforcement action covering multiple repeated violations. Despite an announced enforcement date of April 15, 2013, virtually no information has been released since then. At long last, this month activists hoped to hear some news from Lisa Pinto, district director for Rep. Henry Waxman.

“I hope to have updated information from the [Environmental Protection Agency] on its investigation and an update from [Department of Homeland Security],” Pinto emailed to potential attendees in advance of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council meeting Jan. 13.

However, when her time came to speak she said that although she had fully intended to give an update on the status of the EPA / Rancho LPG situation, she had just received a memo stating that she could not make this information public.

So, she would be contacting their staff attorney in Washington to see if that was correct before proceeding with any announcements of the Rancho status.

Gunter followed up with Pinto later that week and although Ms. Pinto was very guarded about the contents of the message, she did confirm that she had received the message during the neighborhood council meeting from a Rancho representative. She said that the message alludes to the EPA enforcement action and its status as “confidential.” That is why she had delayed sharing any information until receiving authorization from Washington that disclosure is permissible.

Pinto told Random Lengths she did not expect to know more before we go to press.

“Rancho is still trying to delay the public from knowing what is going on…as usual… and it is obviously working,” Gunter said. “So…after 9 months of delay on action that should have taken place by April 15…Rancho is still in control of our precarious destiny.”

The second illustration of unequal corporate versus community power came from a Jan. 9 “public listening session” that the multi-agency federal working group tasked with implementing President Barack Obama’s recently-announced executive order on improving chemical facility safety and security hosted. Given the density of population and chemical facilities in the Los Angeles area, one might expect such a hearing to be extensively publicized in advance, drawing hundreds of participants, with dozens of environmental, environmental justice, public health and other community-based groups giving testimony. Instead, there was virtually no advance notice, about 30 people in attendance and less

Former Los Angeles City Councilman Robert Farrell, left, the Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Rev. William Smart and event organizer Pat Means attended the Jan. 15 reception at fINdings Art Center in San Pedro. fINdings hosted the reception for the California African American Museum’s month-long exhibition of photos of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Los Angeles taken by photographer Harry Adams.

Adams chronicled black Los Angeles from the 1950s through 1980s. Also featured at the reception were original serigraphs by artist Sister Corita Kent. Right, Pat Means, City Councillman Joe Buscaino and fINdings director, Annette Ciketic. Photos: Betty Guevara.

7

The NSA Doesn’t Know You’re Reading this Newspaper

January 24 - February 6, 2014

Serving the Seven Cities of the Harbor Area

By James Preston Allen, Publisher Many years ago, and quite by chance, I was introduced to an analyst for the CIA, who upon hearing that I was the publisher of Random Lengths News, nonchalantly commented, “Oh yes, I’ve seen copies of your publication in our library.”

I was stunned by that revelation. But then, on further reflection, I felt honored that a national security agency would take an interest in what we printed by obtaining a paid subscription through an undercover third party. You never know where a copy of this paper will show up or how far one’s words will reach.

Perhaps I should send some copies to the head of the National Security Agency just to confuse them.

Anyone wish to buy them a gift subscription?

Spying on the American public has a long and sordid history dating back to at least the Palmer Raids following the World War I to round up communists, socialists, Wobblies (International Workers of the World) and other union activists under the “criminal syndicalism” laws. The noted American Socialist party leader Eugene Debs spent much of that war in a federal prison for speaking out against U.S. involvement in that war. He even ran for president from behind bars gaining more than 900,000 votes.

These oppressive laws were enacted out of fear for our national security and were part of the excuse for which the Los Angeles Police Department arrested novelist Upton Sinclair at San Pedro’s Liberty Hill in 1923. His crime?

Reading the First Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights to a gathering of striking union workers on private property to protest wages and working conditions. At that time this was viewed as being “un-American.”

The liberty versus security debate, however, goes all the way back to the very founding of our nation with both Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin admonishing their countrymen that, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.”

Both of these founding fathers understood the threat of tyranny to a democracy both in historical reference and to the future generations of this nation. The foresight of their advice is as relevant today as it was then.

We as a people tend to lose the courage of our convictions when threatened and confused.

8

Propaganda is always a threat to democracy.

Our covert spy agencies know this and have used the fear-mongering in foreign countries over the past century to overthrow and depose legitimately elected governments in Central and South America, and beyond, propping up puppet regimes who support our foreign economic and military interests. This was clearly true in the 1973 coup d’etat that deposed Salvador Allende in Chile.

The historic documentation proves that our then-president Richard Nixon raised private funding from American corporations to pay for the military overthrow of Allende’s democratically elected government and even solicited the help of the Copley News Service (part of the former Daily Breeze) to provide a propaganda campaign to scare and confuse the Chilean people.

Some of the money Nixon raised was used to buy-off corrupt Teamsters union officials in that country, who then strangled the government with a truckers strike that added desperation to the mix before Augusto Pinochet became dictator.

Back here, in the Land of the Free, it was infamous FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who wiretapped Martin Luther King Jr.’s phones, during his civil rights struggles. The FBI’s COINTELPRO domestic spy program was used not only against Civil Rights leaders and leaders of the Black Power movement, but also against the anti-Vietnam War movement and others alleged to be “radicals” or “communists.”

The word “communists” was a catch-all term used through out the Cold War to raise alarm and discredit anyone who challenged American hegemony.

Unlike how King is looked upon today, he was in fact a radical in the social gospel sense as expressed in his speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence, one year before his assassination.In it, he said: I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution [meaning the march towards freedom], we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.

We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thingoriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston Allen james@randomlengthsnews.com

“A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do something about it.”

—Mark Twain Vol. XXXV : No. 2

Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach. Distributed at over 350 locations throughout the seven cities of the Harbor Area.

Assoc. Publisher/Production Coordinator Suzanne Matsumiya info@graphictouchdesigns.com Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks editor@randomlengthsnews.com Assistant Editor Zamná Ávila zamna@randomlengthsnews.com

This was not only a radical statement then.

It’s radical now. Especially when you think about the current NSA spying scandal that was exposed by Edward Snowden and the fact that with the spread of global capitalism, there are 85 people who own as much wealth as half the world’s population. In this light, King’s speech was extremely insightful, if not prescient.

King, I believe, was not killed by a lone racist gunman because of his struggle for civil rights.

He was assassinated by our own government for understanding the greater truth about oppression in our world that was a threat to our national security interests and global capitalism. Read this edition’s Op-Ed for a lengthier excerpt of King’s speech.

For reference, read Orders to Kill: The Truth Behind the Murder of Martin Luther King Jr. by William F. Pepper.

Beyond Vietnam —

A Time to Break Silence

By Dr. Martin Luther King, delivered April 4, 1967 at the Riverside Church, New York City Editor’s Note: Delivered a year before he was killed, Beyond Vietnam—A Time to Break Silence was Dr. Martin Luther King, first major speech outlining his opposition to the war in Vietnam. Some scholars of King’s legacy say this speech was one of the most difficult for him to write. But for today’s readers, this speech is as relevant today as it was when King delivered it, 47 years ago.

Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken—the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment.

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered

Columnists/Reporters Lyn Jensen Carson B. Noel Barr Music Dude John Farrell Curtain Call Lori Lyna Hirsch-Stokoe Food Writer Andrea Serna Arts Writer Malina Paris Culture Writer Calendar 14days@randomlengthsnews.com Photographers Terelle Jerricks, Betty Guevara, Slobodan Dimitrov, Diana Lejins Contributors Jim Hightower, Greggory Moore, Lionel Rolfe, Danny Simon

Cartoonists Ann Cleaves, Andy Singer, Matt Wuerker Advertising Production Mathew Highland, Suzanne Matsumiya Advertising Representative Mathew Highland reads@randomlengthsnews.com adv@randomlengthsnews.com Editorial Intern Joseph Baroud Display advertising (310) 519-1442 Classifieds (310) 519-1016 www.randomlengthsnews.com

more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial.

It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth.

With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa Break the Silence/ to p. 17

Random Lengths News editorial office is located at 1300 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731, (310) 519-1016. Address correspondence regarding news items and news tips only to Random Lengths News, P.O. Box 731, San Pedro, CA 90733-0731, or email to editor @randomlengthsnews.com.

Send Letters to the Editor or requests for subscription information to james @ randomlengthsnews.com. To be considered for publication, all Letters to the Editor should be typewritten, must be signed, with address and phone number included (these will not be published, but for verification only) and be kept to about 250 words. To submit advertising copy email adv@randomelengthsnews.com or reads@ randomlengthsnews.com.

Extra copies and back issues are available by mail for $3 per copy while supplies last. Subscriptions are available for $35 per year for 27 issues.

Random Lengths News presents issues from an alternative perspective. We welcome articles and opinions from all people in the Harbor Area. While we may not agree with the opinions of contributing writers, we respect and support their 1st Amendment right to express those opinions. Random Lengths News is a member of Standard Rates and Data Reporting Services and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. (ISN #0891-6627). All contents Copyright 2014 Random Lengths News. All rights reserved.

RANDOMLetters DWP Criminals

So 40 million rate / tax payers dollars have gone missing.

Supposedly into some sort of training trust fund overseen by Mr. Nichols and union boss Brian D’Arcy.

However, it appears D’Arcy has gone missing as well, either unwilling or unable to give a reasonable accounting of the money.

We all are or should be used to being robbed blind by the criminals at the DWP. What is truly shocking to me is that not one member of our city council has stepped up and promised to reign in this corrupt defacto taxing enterprise.

Could it be because maybe some of that money went to stuff their campaign coffers?

Would our newly elected mayor go after these crooks if they padded his campaign fund instead of Wendy Gruels’?

I hope your paper holds these politicians and the DWP’s collective feet to the fire .

Keep up the good work.

Frank Pereyda San Pedro

Panel Okays Ponte Vista Housing Project

The Nixon administration gave promise to butane as a future energy source. The CEO of this original “Petrolane” facility was Nixon’s pal, RJ Munzer.

Permitting was expedited, tanks were built in an “earthquake rupture zone” and it received an “emergency exemption” from fire regulations. The potential of the butane use was never met and they filed bankruptcy in the 1980’s leaving this incredibly dangerous site for others to operate. Citizen support of Ponte Vista as a means to simply eliminate an “eyesore” is shameful in light of its disaster potential. This is straightforward reckless abandon, and it is morally unacceptable.

Closed Campus at Point Fermin

Our five-year old grandchild misplaced her new lunch pail, a Christmas gift from her mom. So, I went to Point Fermin School to help search for it.

At the gate, I was met by the principal. With polite facial expression and in magisterial tone,

Dear Thuy Reed, I empathize with your lament and concern regarding our public schools that seem to now be offlimits to parents and caregivers out of concern for “safety.” This is not unlike our loss of privacy due to the NSA spying out of concern for national security. Our public institutions should be open to the public as much as reasonably possible. I suggest that you address your concerns directly to the principal of this school. When will we understand that the price we pay for safety and security is our personal liberty?

Thank you for sharing your concerns.

James Preston Allen, Publisher

Leland Park Advisory Board

It is a pleasure to report that Leland has been relatively quiet lately. However, we are still trying to form the park advisory board and need one more person.

Please consider helping your neighborhood.

For the residents that surround the park, the park advisory board is an opportunity to express what the neighborhood needs are regarding park issues. We can also hold community events and fundraise for our park to keep it nice.

It’s also the locale for the neighborhood watch meetings at the moment as well.

It’s our neighborhood, and we took it back from a horrible place with a LOT of help from a lot of neighbors and various city entities.

Let’s keep going forward making the park and our neighborhood a better place one step at a time. We can do it together.

I WILL HAVE applications at the meeting. Please consider joining.

Debbie Rouser San Pedro

I want to disclose several problems associated with the property at 1106 S. Palos Verdes St., also known as The Palos Verdes Auto Body Shop. A quick search online reveals the property is Lot #1 of Block 71 and is the only lot zoned as “Neighborhood Office Commercial” with the remainder of the block consisting of approximately 36 residential units.

The property parcel falls within the “Harbor Gateway State Enterprise Zone” which affords the property owner State tax breaks and similar incentives, subject to particular guidelines and standards.

That being said, the property remains a major blight at the intersection of 11th and S. Palos Verdes St, with its junkyard appearance and failed attempts to conceal such using faded and tattered fencing materials, reminds me of “The Broken Window” theory and the consequences of a failed neighborhood. The property is an eyesore and in no way represents a State enterprising business.

The daily workings of the property extend well beyond normal business hours and contributes toxic fumes of lacquerbased paints and sealants mixed in with clouds of residual metal and bondo sanding dust material. Doing so all the while with no concern for the immediate residential units located within mere feet, leaving tenants scrambling to close doors and windows to protect not only their furnishings but their health as well.

Lastly, the property has long been a noise nuisance. The daily banging and clamoring is exasperated by the use of high speed pneumatic tools that can blast continuous shrills at over 100 decibels. Normal conversation occurs at around 60 decibels and doubles in volume with each 3 decibel incrementation. And sadly, I should mention the undisciplined junkyard dog that is left to sometimes bark through the night.

Palos Verdes Body Shop serves no one’s interest but its own and contributes nothing good to the community. Attempts to speak directly with the owner have failed leaving me with no other option than to let the public know about this blight in the community.

M. Alexander San Pedro

Croatia.” (Stars and Stripes, Oct. 11, 1946 ) Some 25 miles from Zagreb is the site of the major concentration camp during World War II, Jasenovac, where thousands of Serbian, Gypsies, Jews and Croatian partisans were exterminated by the Nazi puppet government of Croatia.

Val Rodriguez Signal Hill

Police Covering Up Federal Felonies

On January 2, 2014 the FBI office in Long Beach, California received a letter documenting

federal felonies and a cover-up of those felonies by the Long Beach Police Department.

The letter, a list of documented felonies, the documents proving the felonies and a detailed chronology are posted at http://interestingtimes. info/LBPD/ .

The charges (rights violations, concealing and/or destroying records, and conspiracy) are remarkably similar to the charges brought against the 18 Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriffs recently arrested.

George McCalip Long Beach

FIFA Bans Croatian Defender

Why did only one southland publication carry the AP news item which reported that FIFA had

Errata

There was an error in the article “King and Kent: Art in Action for Social Justice” on page 5 of the Jan. 9 edition of Random Lengths News: Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn was a long time resident of South Los Angeles.

January 24 - February 6, 2014

Janet Gunter San Pedro

the imposing figure informed me that for the safety of the children, no one is allowed in during school hours. I said thank you and walked back to my car feeling a little blue.

At first, I thought that I was sad because I missed the chance to say our daily goodbye, for she had gotten inside the gate as I was trying to park. But, I then realized that was not it. What saddened me was the sense of helplessness.

My granddaughter was being confined by the same place that is supposed to free her mind with knowledge. Indeed, this is nothing like one those indoctrinated staterun institutions that we read about.

In this case, our little ones were kept inside for their safety. I must say that I am glad that schools looking for ways to protect them from harm. But this is no way to schooling our little American children. I lament.

Thuy Reed San Pedro

banned Croatian defender Josip Simunic from the World Cup, ( 10 official matches, ) for leading a pro-Nazi chant with croatian fans in the capital city, Zagreb, after his team qualified for next year’s finals in Brazil? (Long Beach PressTelegram, Dec. 17. ) A role model for Simunic had to be Croatian Col. Gryuk Lisak who was found guilty of collaboration with the Nazis and sentenced to hanging by a Croatian people’s Court in Zagreb at the end of World War II. Lisak shook his fist at the court in a high-pitch voice screamed, “I will die for Croatia!

Long live the independent state of

The Local Publication You Actually Read

It is terrifying that the City of LA has approved the introduction of hundreds of new families to the Ponte Vista housing project (a half-mile from Rancho LPG) in San Pedro with total disregard for their safety. There has been NO independent comprehensive risk analysis ever performed on this highly explosive facility. An EPA formula for blast radius from one of their 12.5 million gallon butane tanks places impact at 3.6 miles.

Palos Verdes Auto Body Shop

9

German Photojournalist Brings Spotlight to San Pedro

January 24 - February 6, 2014

Serving the Seven Cities of the Harbor Area

By Andrea Serna, Arts and Culture Writer

10

Tim Maxeiner is discovering the port city haired matrons from the historical society and from a viewpoint that only a new immigrant can avant-garde artists, mingling happily.

When the photographer’s explorations took perceive. His exhibition, “Second Thoughts San him to the Historical Society, he discovered that Pedro” is on display at the Cornelius Project.

Growing up in the ancient city of Augsburg other photographers in an earlier time had found in the south of Germany, he finds his new the same locations he was shooting. Amazed to home of San Pedro to be young and exciting by find a photo from 1956 of fallen trees on Pacific comparison. The diverse landscape has proven to Avenue, he was stunned because he had just taken a strikingly similar photo five days earlier. be inspirational.

“You just have to walk down the street He returned and culled images that mirrored his and you will find something interesting,” said own.

This discovery inspired him to curate his Maxeiner.

Lured by low rents and arriving in San Pedro photos alongside the historical societies, creating on a journalist’s visa, he took this approach to his a narrative of the old and the new that runs photography. He began by walking the different neighborhoods and started photographing alleyways, homes, cars and local residents.

“I came to San Pedro telling myself that it didn’t matter where I settled,” he said. “Then I slowly explored this place and I think I got lucky.”

He got really lucky. He immediately stumbled onto the colorful car culture and formed a bond with the Brotherhood of Street Racers International Car Club. He took photos of the gloriously rich vehicles and sent them back to Germany, where automobiles are strictly regulated and it is rare to find a car more than five years old on the Autobahn. The German media snatched up his photos and the Street Brothers have embraced the tall, blond German.

He took these images of the streets of San Pedro and published a book, The Maxeiner’s photos are juxtaposed with archival images of San Pedro Streets of San Pedro. He Tim from the San Pedro Bay Historical Society. “Second Thoughts San Pedro” is also created an exhibition, on display at the Cornelius Project in San Pedro.

“Pedro Parking, Art and the Automobile,” which showed this past year during the First Thursday throughout the exhibition. He is spending a lot of time with his new friends at the society, lecturing Art Walk.

“To be honest, when I came here I didn’t really and screening his videos. As he looks through think of art or being an artist” said Maxeiner “I their folders, his knowledge and understanding take pictures and I have more of a journalistic of his new home is building.

Gallery owner Laurie Steelink has presented view. Everyone sees something different in it.

Some people see it as art and some people see it thought-provoking exhibitions in her new spot.

Steelink, previously of Track 16 at Bergamont as a documentation, which I think fits.”

In the spirit of “Big Willie” Robinson, the Station, has brought her expertise to the Cornelius 6-foot-6, 300-pound former Los Angeles street Project. She opened with Craig Ibarra, the San racer and founder of the Brotherhood, the Pedro punk flier artist. Her most recent show, photography is bringing people together. At the “The Mind of Joe Baiza” revisited the ‘70s San recent opening of Second Thoughts San Pedro a Pedro Punk scene. Expect many more attentiongrabbing exhibits from this gallery. diverse group of residents was in attendance.

Maxeiner’s current exhibit at the Cornelius Project is a contrast of his own photographic Details: (310) 266 9216; corneliusprojects@ images and archival images from the San Pedro gmail.com Bay Historical Society. The reception was a Venue: Cornelius Projects wildly varied assortment of street racers, gray Location: 1417 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro

By Andrea Serna, Arts and Culture Writer

Gallery 478 is having a large format photography show, exhibiting the work of husband and wife team Ray and Arnée Carafano. Photo Courtesy of Gallery 478

ACE: Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment ACE • Art, Cuisine, & Entertainment

For more than 20 years Ray Carofano has returned to the Mojave Desert, documenting the effect of wind, sun and human activity on the landscape through photography.

The result is an exhibition of large scale black and white images, Broken Dreams, showing in his San Pedro Gallery 478 on 7th Street.

The gallery is an anchor on the street; a gathering place where artists and intellectuals come to at the end of the evening after wandering sidewalks during the First Thursday Art Walk. For years, Carofano and his wife Arneé have presented works from a wide variety of exceptional highly renowned artists and photographers.

Recently, the team has decided to display their own work. The exhibit is a reminder of the fine artists residing inside the gallery.

They each point their cameras at the desert, but bring distinctly individual perspectives.

Ray’s artist statement reads: “I have been combing California’s Mojave and Sonora deserts in my Volkswagen van compiling a large body of work. Weather and time ravaged dwellings, both occupied and abandoned, became the subject of my photographic inquiry.”

Eerie, haunting, powerful images emerge. The images show the broken dreams of individuals seeking to live a life on a new frontier, created outside of the constraints of civilization. These abandoned communities have been populated by non-conformists, radicals and rebels seeking freedom on the fringes of society.

“The Broken Dreams series is about the disconnect between the American dream of selfdependency and the realities of social isolation.”

RayCarofano said. “The images examine places and belongings. They tell more about the people than a portrait can.”

Broken Dreams Continued on page 16.

January 24 – February 6, 2014 January 24 – February 6, 2014

11 11

Entertainment January 24

Fred Schreuders Group The Fred Schreuders Group is scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Jan. 24, at Alvas Showroom in San Pedro.

Details: (800) 403-3447 Venue: Alvas Showroom Location: 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro Pretzel Logic Enjoy the harmonies, unforgettable guitar hooks and jazzy horn lines of Steely Dan’s greatest hits, at 8 p.m. Jan. 24, at the Grand Annex in San Pedro.

Details: www.grandvision.org Venue: Grand Annex Location: 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro Swing San Pedro Discover the People’s Palace, starting at 7 p.m.

Jan. 24, in San Pedro. Enjoy the spacious and beautiful dance floor, learn some new moves and dance to live music from, The Fabulous Esquires Big Band, one of SoCal’s top Swing bands will perform.

Tickets start at $15; $25 at the door.

Details: (310) 547-2348 Venue: People’s Palace Location: 365 W 6th St., San Pedro

Celebrate the Rededication of Korean Bell with Korea’s National Dish: Kimchi!

By Lori Lynn Hirsch Stokoe, Food Writer and Photographer We’re celebrating the re-dedication of our beloved Bell by enjoying Korea’s most celebrated pickle dish - kimchi!

Kimchi is made by pickling vegetables (or other foods) with seasonings such as chili, ginger, garlic and salt. Generally, there are two categories of kimchi: the “quick” kind, which is made for immediate consumption or eaten within a few

January 25

Scott Henderson Trio The Scott Henderson Trio is scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Jan. 25, at Alvas Showroom in San Pedro.

Details: (800) 403-3447 Venue: Alvas Showroom Location: 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

January 26

Aristocrats The Aristocrats are scheduled to perform at 6 and 8 p.m. Jan. 26, at Alvas Showroom in San Pedro.

Details: (800) 403-3447 Venue: Alvas Showroom Location: 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

January 31

Independent And Free.

Sean Wayland Quartet The Sean Wayland Quartet is scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Jan. 31, at Alvas Showroom in San Pedro.

Details: (800) 403-3447 Venue: Alvas Showroom Location: 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Community/Family January 25

Explore The Shore Spend Jan. 25 exploring the shore at Cabrillo Beach. Join the “Walk Cabrillo” guided tour of the Cabrillo Beach Coastal Park habitats from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. This free activity will include guided interpretation of inner Cabrillo Beach saltmarsh, outer wave-swept sandy beach, and the tidepools at Point Fermin. Participants will learn about the cultural history as well as the natural history of

January 24 – February 6, 2014

Calendar continued on page 14.

12

days, just slightly fermented, and the other type, in which the mixture is allowed to ferment and mature. Both methods result in Korea’s favorite dish: a delightfully pungent, robust food that is so much more than a side dish.

On the morning of Jan. 10, San Pedrans and Bell aficionados joined dignitaries from both Los Angeles and South Korea in Angels Gate Park overlooking the blue Pacific for the re-dedication and bell ringing ceremony of the Korean Friendship Bell. The Bell was a gift from the Republic of Korea to the American people in celebration of our bicentennial in 1976 to consolidate the friendship between our two countries. Over the years the Bell had fallen into disrepair but thanks to a team of South Korean artisans, a generous donation by the South Korean government, and the dedicated work of the Korean Friendship Bell Preservation Committee, it has been restored to its former glory.

There are several hundred types of kimchi made from various vegetables, fish, seafood, Kimchi Omelette continued on page 16.

San Pedro’s Original ArtWalk— Fine Dining • Live Music Special Performances • Food Trucks!

Studio Gallery 345

“FOR THE LOVE OF MARDI GRAS” FEBRUARY-MARCH 2014. Pat Woolley and Gloria D Lee present artwork reflecting the love of all things ‘Mardi Gras’. works on canvas and paper; books and small works. Open 6-9 pm on 1st Thursday and by appointment: for more information call 310.545.0832 or 310.374.8055 • 345 W. 7th Street San Pedro

The Loft Gallery

Peace Be With You—Featuring...

Craig Antrim, Betsy Lauro Hall,Yoon Jin Kim, Judith Turner Kindra, Neil Nagy and Jill Sykes.

Loft Artists: Candice Gawne, Carol Hungerford, Sam Arno, Daniel Porras, Murial Olguin, Jan Govaerts, Anne Marie Rawlinson, & Nancy Towne Schultz. • Open First Thursday 6–9 p.m. Open Saturdays & Sundays 2-5 p.m. • 401 S. Mesa St. • 310.831.5757

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per Month!

(310) 519-1442

ACE: Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

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Michael Stearns Studio 347 Love and Other Considerations Michael Stearns Gallery 347 presents a juried exhibition “Love and Other Considerations”. Over 20 artists from the Harbor area display paintings, sculpture and photography in this reflection on love and loss. After nearly 12 years working in his Long Beach studio and operating Gallery 33 on Broadway, Stearns brings this annual exhibition to San Pedro.

Exhibition opens on First Thursday, February 6. Reception from 6-9 pm. Michael Stearns Studio 347 is located at 347 W. 7th St., San Pedro. For further information please visit www. michaelstearnsstudio.com or call 562.400.0544.

ex-cerpt: remains through March 9 Craig Antrim and Ron Linden Selections from SPACE+Substance curated by Kathy Zimmerer for the University Art Gallery, California State University, Dominguez Hills, CA. This exhibition sponsored in part by the San Pedro Arts, Culture and Entertainment District and the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce. (310) 600-4873 • 600 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro

January 24 – February 6, 2014

Transvagrant and Warschaw Gallery

13

Calendar from page 12. the area. All will experience an informative and invigorating morning. This is a great family activity and groups of 10 or more are strongly encouraged to make a reservation. Participants will meet in the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium courtyard.

Details: (310) 548-7562; www. cabrillomarineaquarium.org.

Venue: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium Location: 3720 Stephen M. White Dr., San Pedro Healthy Happens Here There will be a YMCA Open House, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m Jan. 25, in San Pedro. This is a free community open house to learn all the benefits of a balanced healthy life. Free goodie bags will be given to the first 30 families attending.

Details: (310) 832-4211 Venue: San Pedro & Peninsula YMCA Location: 301 S. Bandini St., San Pedro

January 26

Whale Fiesta Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, will celebrate the 44th anniversary of the annual Whale Fiesta, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 26. This event celebrates marine mammals, and the beginning of the migration of the Pacific gray whales along Southern California. More than 20 marine life organizations will exhibit and provide information about their efforts to bring awareness and protection to these animals. Throughout the day our expert Cabrillo Whalewatch naturalists will give talks on various marine mammals. Grab your shovels and come lend a hand to help build a life-sized gray whale out of sand. The highlight of the day is the “Great Duct Tape Whale Contest,” where model whales are created by all ages. Other activities throughout the day will include face painting, music, marine mammal-related arts and crafts projects for all ages, a puppet show and “Whale Dynamics,” where participants will be transformed into a “living whale.”

Details: (310) 548-7562; www. cabrillomarineaquarium.org.

Venue: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium Location: 3720 Stephen M. White Dr., San Pedro

January 30

Independent And Free.

Lunch and Learn Series Attend a workshop on memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias from 12 to 1 p.m., Jan. 30. Lunch and a clinical update on those conditions and others will be provided. Please call by Jan. 27 to reserve a spot.

Details: (310) 222-4240; lbosnich@labiomed.org Venue: LA Biomed Chronic Disease Clinical Research Center Location: 1124 W. Carson St., Torrance

February 2

The Torrance Chinese School Talent Show The Torrance Chinese School is hosting its talent show at 1:30 p.m., Feb. 2. This is an opportunity for students, teachers, staff, faculty and parents to all contribute to celebrate the Chinese New Year and showcase talent. Admission is $10.

Details: (310) 781-7171; thekatprod@aol.com Venue: James Armstrong Theatre Location: 3330 Civic Center Dr., Torrance

January 24 – February 6, 2014

Calendar continued on page 15.

14

Omelette & Waffle Shop– Where a Long Menu is Their Strong Suit By: Katrina Guevara, Contributing Writer

C

o-owner and manager Mona Sutton’s button, “I’ll have my usual,” is a common theme for many regulars at the Omelette and Waffle Shop in San Pedro.

Yet, for first timers, it is a good idea to take a step back and take a careful look when placing an order.

Many customers have written pleasant reviews on Yelp. Others have used it to rest-andrant because they couldn’t make up their minds.

The Omelette and Waffle Shop’s choices can be overwhelming.

If you take a glance around the diner, there’s a huge handwritten menu of special items, a flat screen television, hanging light fixtures and oodles of patrons starting their day with a cup of joe and a plate full of love.

Diners can choose from more than 95 omelet options. Besides the beaten eggs, the menu includes everything from a “Jalapeño Bacon Cheddar Waffle” to the “King’s Hawaiian French Toast,” to the “Portuguese Omelet.”

If the large selection is not enough to satisfy cravings, there’s always the option to start from scratch and customize an order.

In fact, customers even have the option of choosing egg whites with no extra charge, as Omelette & Waffle Shop veteran Mitch Harmatz does.

In Kathryn Bigelow’s war thriller The Hurt Locker, Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner) returns home to America, away from combat, only to witness another war in his mind. James pushes a grocery cart and sees too many cereal options from Kix to Special K. The paradox of choice displayed in the film is similar to the phenomena bestowed by the Omelette & Waffle Shop.

The good thing is that there is something for everyone.

“Most restaurants don’t have a great selection like ours because you must train the cooks to say yes,” Sutton said.

Sutton said the sauces are all made fresh from the teriyaki to hollandaise. The eggs and produce

also come in six days a week.

“Our food is always so fresh and consistent,” Sutton added. “We put attention to detail, freshness and execution of the recipes.”

The full-plate portions and prices have remained consistent too—from $6.45 waffles to $9 omelets. Also, the breakfast place caters to vegans and grubbers with gluten dietary restrictions.

“A restaurant with a narrower menu has its focus on certain people, which makes for a narrower clientele,” says Sutton.

That’s not the case with Sutton and Leslie Jones’ breakfast joint.

Everything from grits to chilaquiles to coconut-pineapple waffles to spam to yellow curry is served here.

“The fun thing about watching the business grow over the years is that we attract so many people from all over the South Bay and South Los Angeles,” Sutton said. “We have Americana food that is inclusive of everyone,” says Sutton.

The Omelette &Waffle Shop will not narrow down its selection any time soon. They will only build on their foundations. Even Sutton was suggesting garbanzo beans as an ingredient to add soft texture in the mix.

The diner will celebrate its 20th anniversary under the management of Sutton and Jones in November.

If you look closely at the diner’s logo, a tan egg and waffle join and both extend their arms wide open. Sutton and Jones have joined forces to welcome, serve and cater to the people who enter their house of omelets and waffles.

With more than 300 Yelp reviews and 4 out of 5 stars, Omelette & Waffle Shop remains the busiest diner in San Pedro.

The Omelette & Waffle Shop is open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Sundays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Details: (310) 831-3277 Venue: Omelette & Waffle Shop Location: 1103 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro

Karen Marie Richardson as Queenie Pie and Keithon Gipson as Holt Faye in the Long Beach Opera produced opera Queenie Pie, written

by Duke Ellington. Photo by Terelle Jerricks

By Melina Paris, Music and Culture Writer with Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

A storm in the African American blogosphere

Queenie Pie continued on page 16.

Theater/Film January 26

G-Dog The Friends of San Pedro Library will present a special showing of G-Dog, Academy Awardwinning producer Freida Lee Mock’s documentary on Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, at 2 p.m. Jan. 26, at the Grand Annex in San Pedro. Homeboys Louis Perez and Fabian Debora will be on hand to bring the audience up to date on events at Homeboy Industries. A $10 admission fee goes to Homeboy Industries.

Details: (310) 832-6288 Venue: Grand Annex Location: 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro Queenie Pie The Long Beach Opera presents Queenie Pie, at 8 p.m. Jan. 26, at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro. Opera heads to Harlem for a Big Band makeover in Duke Ellington’s comic opera, inspired by the life of African American mogul Madam C.J. Walker. This “raucous affair” combines hot jazz, cool blues and gravity-defying bouffants. Tickets range from $29 to $160.

Details: (562) 432-5934; longbeachopera.org Venue: Warner Grand Theatre Location: 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro

February 1

Freedom Train The Kat Production presents Freedom Train at 7 p.m., Feb. 1. This play is based on the true story of one woman’s heroic journey from slavery to freedom. Admission will be $20.

Details: (310) 781-7171; thekatprod@aol.com Venue: James Armstrong Theatre Location: 3330 Civic Center Dr., Torrance

Art January 25

Materials and Applications: Build Something Beautiful The University Art Museum is celebrating the opening of the Materials and Applications exhibition beginning from 6 to 8 p.m., Jan. 25. The exhibition is a capstone to more than 10 years of effort at the Los Angeles-based nonprofit to advance new and underused ideas in art, architecture and landscape. The event is free.

Details: (562) 985-7602; www.csulb.edu/uam Venue: University Art Museum Location: 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach

February 4

Artful Days: The Human Figure in Art The Torrance Cultural Services Division presents Artful Days, from 12:10 to 1 p.m., Feb. 4. The presentation shows the human figure being depicted by man for thousands of years. This lecture will focus on showing the styles of drawing the human from the earliest to the most modern.

Admission is $3.

Details: (310) 781-7171; thekatprod@aol.com Venue: James Armstrong Theatre Location: 3330 Civic Center Dr., Torrance

February 6

Love and Other Considerations Michael Stearns Gallery 347 presents a juried exhibition Love and Other Considerations. More than 20 artists from the Harbor Area display paintings, sculpture and photography in this reflection on love and loss. After almost 12 years working in his Long Beach studio and operating Gallery 33, Stearns brings this annual exhibition to his new San Pedro gallery. The exhibition opens on First Thursday, Feb. 6. Reception from 6 to 9 p.m.

Details: (562) 400-0544 Venue: Michael Stearns Studio 347 Location: 347 W. 7th St., San Pedro Love and Early Mardi Gras Studio 345 presents an exhibition of acrylics and small treasures. The opening is during First Thursday Art Walk, from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 6.

Details: (310) 374- 8055 Venue: Studio 345 Location: 345 W. 7th St., San Pedro REVERB!, The Torrance Art Museum at the Joslyn Center invites the public to attend the opening reception Calendar continued on page 16.

January 24 – February 6, 2014

has been brewing since Nigerian pop star Dencia unveiled her line of skin lightening cream, “Whitelicious,” for black women.

The existence of skin lightening creams aren’t new, but it does speak to the continued legacy of colonialism and the devaluation of black bodies.

However, this isn’t just white-black racism issue.

This is an issue of colorism, an issue of every shade of skin tone.

Stage Director Ken Roht, chose to navigate these issues more directly in Duke Ellington’s Queenie Pie, a Long Beach Opera production scheduled for the Warner Grand Theatre, Jan. 26 through Feb. 2.

Set in a half-mythological Harlem and an entirely mythological island, Queenie is the winner of her 10th Queenie Pie title, a national honor bestowed on the most talented and powerful beautician in the country. Resentful of being a

dark-skinned woman surrounded by lighterskinned family members, she channeled her energy into building a business empire based on a line of beauty products.

Every time she wins, Queenie throws a victory party along with her usual attendees such as, Queenie’s business manager, an on-again-offagain lover Holt Faye (Keithon Gipson) and her ever-present manservant and spiritual advisor, Lil Daddy (Jeffrey Polk). With winning year-afteryear, the party has become a popular yearly event for competitors and admirers alike.

It is here that the young, light-skinned beauty from New Orleans, and second runner up in the competition, Cafe O’Lay comes in. O’Lay competes with Queenie in love (for Hoyt Faye) and business (she announces she’s opening a beauty shop in Harlem), stoking a brewing fight Queenie—a fight that eventually leads to murder.

Calendar from page 13.

ACE: Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

Long Beach Opera Aims to Strike a Chord

“After reading the existing libretto, I found it to be a perfect template to investigate the issues of intra-racial colorism,” Roht said.

Colorism, like racism, is a disease rather than a social condition — an infection that impairs the functioning of a community or a nation. Colorism is the bestowal of benefits based on the lightness of your skin tones or the restriction of rights and benefits based on the darkness of ones’ skin tone.

In an interview with Random Lengths, Roht remarked that this dynamic was his cue to look deeper into the circumstances of a lightskinned African-American asserting her “socially bequeathed entitlement” over the dark skinned Queenie and Queenie deploying her years of built up resentments to destroy Café O’Lay. Anna Bowen, who portrays Cafe O’Lay, offers a succinct analysis of the relationship between Queenie Pie and Cafe O’Lay. “Queenie’s beauty empire is based on just being beautiful for who you are,” Bowen explained.

“Conversely, Café O’Lay’s beauty empire is based on women not being good enough because they want to look like her.”

Roht explains the original was a more showy production with a narrator throughout who recited poetry at the time, narrating the proceedings. To Roht the characters telling their own story was more interesting. What has not been apparent in any of the adaptations until now was the exploration of colorism, whereas before it was much more about ageism with Queenie being pushed out by a younger person.

Ellington started composing Queenie Pie in 1962, when he received a commission from the New York public TV station WNET, but he died in 1974 before completing the work. As a result, no one will ever know how deep or expansive Ellington intended to take this jazz, blues opera.

“We’ll never know,” says Richardson. “But I feel there are plenty of moments and clues and words in the songs that will let you know exactly where his mind was.”

Richardson theorizes that Ellington was making a statement with the etymology of the character’s name Holt Faye. It sounds like “Ofay,” which was the slang term for white people at that time.

“All Holt wants to do is get money, money, money. He’s all about business. I feel Ellington was saying something about that. There were no accidents.”

The characteristics that Holt Faye exemplifies are that “white is right.” Anna elaborates that he becomes enamored with Café O’Lay. He starts becoming more Caucasian, such as his using a process to straighten his hair. Further evidence is provided during the production At one point during the production when Holt, in reply to Queenie’s assertion that Café O’Lay is trying to make black people white, said, “Would that be so bad?”

“Holt is a businessman,” Richardson said. “I have a theory that with this adaptation, Ellington makes the statement that is, ‘We are all business people and how we deal in our business etches along a line that panders to a certain group of people.’”

A group of Ellington’s collaborators completed the work in the 1980s and premiered it at the 1986 American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia, but managed to keep it open enough to emphasize different themes.

Actresses Karen Marie Richardson, as Queenie

15

Calendar from page 15.

Continued from page 12.

of REVERB!, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through March 8. REVERB! Is the effect from a source of sound on the world around it. This exhibition combines the work of visual and sound artists to explore the role of music in contemporary art. These artists discover myriad ways to explore the connections between the making of music and the making of visual art.

Details: (310) 618-3846; www.torranceartmuseum. com Venue: Torrance Art Museum Location: 3320 Civic Center Dr., Torrance

Kimchi Omelet

Gallery 478 Gallery 478 is having a large format photography show, exhibiting the work of husband and wife team Ray and Arnée Carofano. Shot with a Canon ELS 600 T3, Arnée’s abstract series reflects images extracted from reality. A former painter, she applies a painterly aspect to her work, allowing the viewer to come to their own conclusions. Ray’s photography is an extension of his “Broken Dreams” series. The photographer has been documenting the beauty and decay of the Mojave Desert for 20 years.

Details: ray@carofano.com Venue: Gallery 478 Location: 478 W. 7th St., San Pedro Second Thoughts San Pedro CORNELIUS PROJECTS presents Second Thoughts San Pedro: Photographs, from the San Pedro Bay Historical Society, complemented with contemporary photographs and videos by Tim Maxeiner. The exhibition will run through March 1. Gallery hours are on Saturdays from 1 to 6 p.m. or by appointment.

Details: (310) 266-9216; corneliusprojects@gmail. com Venue: Cornelius Projects Location: 1417 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro

Independent And Free.

February 14

The Art of Love with Gregorio Luke Get ready for an unforgettable romantic experience at the Art of Love, MOLAA’s Valentine’s dinner, dance and show! You’ll enjoy an evening of fine dining, dance and a romance-infused multi-media presentation by renowned speaker, Gregorio Luke.

The evening begins with a champagne reception and an intimate stroll through our galleries.

Then enjoy an exquisite three course dinner with an aphrodisiac dessert. The evening includes the return of Gregorio Luke’s Art of Love show.

Funny and irreverent, this new edition features the greatest kisses in Hollywood, love tales from Casanova and Valentino and erotic pointers from the Kamasutra. Cap off the evening with sultry salsa dancing to a live band! Seating is limited, so reserve your tickets today. The event is $75.00 per person – Non-Member price, $65.00 per person – Member price. Price includes champagne reception, gallery viewing, three-course meal, presentation and dancing. A cash bar will also be available throughout the evening.

Details: (562)437-1689, www.molaa.org Venue: Museum of Latin American Art Location: 628 Alamitos Ave. Long Beach

January 24 – February 6, 2014

Ingredients for 1 Omelet:

• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, divided • 1 scallion, white and pale green part, sliced • 1/2 cup napa cabbage kimchi, rough chopped • 3 eggs, beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper • 2 slices sharp cheddar cheese Heat a small sauté pan over medium-high heat.

Add 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, then add scallion rings, cook for about 1 minute then add kimchi.

Cook, stirring until kimchi starts to brown, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a small non-stick pan over medium heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil. Swirl the oil around the pan then add the eggs. (For the fluffiest omelet, be sure to beat the eggs just before adding them to the pan.) Cook the eggs, gently lifting the edges with a spatula, so the uncooked egg flows under the cooked egg. This method

Garnish:

• sour cream • red chili threads (optional) • roasted sesame seeds • scallion curls To make scallion curls, simply slice the green tops of the scallion into 3-inch lengths, then slice lengthwise into thin strips. Place strips in ice water until they curl.

Top the omelet with a dollop of sour cream. Sprinkle with chili threads and sesame seeds. Scatter a few scallion curls about the plate.

Mas-issge deuseyo (bon appétit) Lori Lynn Hirsch Stokoe blogs about food, wine and entertaining at Taste With The Eyes www.tastewiththeeyes.com/ and tweets as Tasteblog at https://twitter.com/tasteblog

Continued from page 15.

Queenie Pie

FebRuary 16

Free Afro-Latino Festival at MOLAA Celebrate African Heritage in Latin America at MOLAA’s annual Afro-Latino Festival through art workshops and music from 11am to 5pm. There will be craft vendors, face painting, art workshops and food for purchase. The day’s schedule are as follows: 12:30pm--Children’s Storytime in the Screening Room, 1pm-4pm--Performances in the Robert Gumbiner Sculpture Garden, 1pm-Afro-American Chamber Music Society Orchestra (Classical music), 2pm--Samba Society (Brazilian “roots” samba), 3pm--Mexico68 (Afro-beat), Free Admission every Sunday.

Details: www.molaa.org, (562) 437-1689 Venue: Museum of Latin American Art, Location: 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach

16

fruit, and herbs. Here, we create an omelet using the most popular of all types of kimchi: napa cabbage kimchi, where zingy fermented flavors are balanced by light fluffy eggs, melting cheddar and rich sour cream. The result is an omelet that is tangy, spicy, even a bit crunchy. A real eye-opener.

Good morning! Breakfast. Is. Served.

makes a wonderful fluffy omelet with a tender and creamy center. When the eggs are almost cooked through, place cheese on top of the eggs, cover the pan and remove from heat.

When the cheese has melted, place kimchi mixture over half of the omelet. Tip the omelet out of the pan, folding in half onto a plate.

Anna Bowen as Cafe O’Lay in Long Beach Opera’s Queenie Pie

Pie, and Bowen both expressed trepidation in taking on these roles on such an explosive theme with an all black cast.

“This is the first time that I’ve ever felt safe about talking about these issues,” Bowen explained. “I’ve had countless encounters with women in shows that I’ve done [who] are darker than [I, who] I know they’ve talked about me and said stuff. I don’t address it because I don’t want to rock the boat. I don’t want to be the object of anger….

So I try not to saying anything.

This is the first cast I have felt completely safe with and it’s ironic that it’s an all African American cast.

Bowen, a biracial child of

Dutch and African American parents, and Richardson, who was reared in mostly white suburbs through her childhood recall traumas of never being “black enough,” when working productions with predominantly black casts.

“I was scared to do this,” Richardson said.

“At first I was happy to have this project then I started reading the script and realized I was going to be surrounded by black people.

Richardson recalled her family as often being the only black family in the neighborhood, but found that the majority of the friction came from black folks.

“I hear things like, ‘she talks too proper,’ etc. Every time I’ve worked on projects with other black women they find me not to be black enough or black to their standards. As soon as I realized everyone around me was going to be black, I was terrified because I didn’t know how they were going to treat me.”

Richardson noted she encountered this phenomena mostly on the East Coast. This current production is her first on the West Coast. “[Here], when I walked in everyone just smiled at me and I almost felt like I was going to weep right there,” Richardson explained. “I can’t believe how different it is here. This is my first time doing a show on the West Coast and I have not been embraced by a group of black people so closely. It’s breathtaking and the fact that we’re dealing with colorism at the same time, it’s a good feeling. Queenie Pie runs Jan. 26 at 7 p.m., Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. Tickets cost from $29 to $160.

Details: lbopera.org Venue: Warner Grand Theatre Location: 478 W. 6th St. San Pedro

Continued from page 11.

Broken Dreams

Abandoned, discarded buildings and belongings reflect the brutal veracity of failure in the hot burning desert sun. In one image, a forsaken individual about to abandon his trailer home, scrawls “THIS IS THE LAND OF BROKEN DREAMS” on the side of the abode.

Carofano shoots in film, scanned and digitized.

He has replaced the darkroom process with Photoshop. On his 44-inch printer he produces his work on archival paper. The final toned and dyed images arrive with a lustrous transcendence.

A somewhat brooding, ghostly, sepia tone emerges, giving his images a mystical quality.

Ghosts of those who were defeated by the desert silently stand beside the empty trailers. Bars and grocery markets once filled with exuberance, now gone.

Humans are not the only ones to be devastated by the pitiless sun and wind. Carofano is fascinated with the Salton Sea. The Salton Sink or Salton Basin has long been alternately a fresh water lake and a dry desert basin, depending on river flows and the balance between inflow and evaporative loss.

Once a playground for vacationing Californians, the lack of an outflow means that the Salton Sea is a system of accelerated change.

Pollution and drought have combined to devastate the Salton Sea. Carofano includes several images of the drying salt beds forming at the once popular playground. A salt encrusted deserted beach in the middle of the desert provokes an incomprehensible response. Something just doesn’t fit here.

At the same moment, Ray is pointing his camera at the loss and tragedy of life in the harsh environment of the desert, Arneé is discovering abstract images through her lens. Arnée’s abstract series reflects images extracted from reality. A former painter, she applies a painterly aspect to her work, allowing the viewer to come to their own conclusions.

“I use various sources, but the source is not relevant anymore,” Arneé Carofano said. “It is [a result] of the images I am drawing from.

Compositions of light and balance and form…. I am still experimenting with the presentation in the large format. I always seem to have been drawn to going inside and close up.”

She began her photography work with the SX70 Polaroid camera 3 by 3 inches. She progressed to the SLR digital camera and started experimenting with abstract imagery, as opposed to Ray’s dramatic landscapes. The result is that the couple complements each other with their diverse styles.

Ray is working on building a museum submission package for this series. He has exhibited his photographs in several galleries and museums across the Southwest. His fine art photography is in the permanent collections at Museum of Photographic Art in San Diego, Santa Barbara Museum of Art and in the National Archives in Havana Cuba, among others.

Details: (310) 732-2150 Venue: Gallery 478 Location: 478 W. 7th St., San Pedro

from p. 8

Break the Silence

from p. 7

Exhibit A

These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression and out of the wombs of a frail world new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and The following are health care providers that are no longer covered by the ILWU-PMA Coastwise Indemnity Plan.

from p. 5

Effective January 19, 2014:

being used was a non-factor.

Zenith contracted with TC3, an insurance claim investigation company, to provide fraud screening for out-of-network providers. TC3 immediately uncovered evidence of fraudulent claims, mostly from Southern California. TC3 would eventually uncover $40 million worth of fraud in the first 6 months of 2013, leading to the fraud sleuthing company to expand staff. Despite knowing that more staff was needed, TC3 remained short staffed, further hampering the processing of claims.

But the more fundamental reasons for TC3’s role in delaying the payment of claims had to do with their claims adjusting policy.

There are two ways a health plan can address fraud: Pay and chase, or pay all claims and seek to recover fraudulent or otherwise payments later, or not pay suspect claims until they are investigated for appropriateness.

Though Zenith said they could do it either way, their standard operating procedure was to pay claims after they were thoroughly investigated. TC3 explained that a typical fraud investigation took 6 months or more to complete. The Union trustees on the board noted this choice is the main cause of claims not being paid timely or not paid at all.

Dr. Mehdi Tahsini Aliases: Tansini Sheik, Mehdi Tamsini, Matt Tahsini Associated Organizations: • BelleSleep Inc. • Medical Plaza of San Pedro • Torrance Family & Urgent Care • Be Relax Beau • AI & T Inc. • San Pedro Family & Urgent Care

Effective January 19, 2014: Dr. Sutha Sachar • Associated Organizations: • Coastal View Gastroenterology • Medical Plaza of San Pedro

Effective January 19, 2014:

Dr. David S. Shawa • Associated Organizations: • The S.H.A.R.P. Treatment South Bay

Effective January 19, 2014:

Dr. Adam M. Weitzman Aliases: Tansini Sheik, Mehdi Tamsini, Matt Tahsini Associated Organizations: •The S.H.A.R.P. Treatment South Bay • Medical Plaza of San Pedro • San Pedro Family & Urgent Care • South Bay Pain Docs

King: Beyond Vietnam/ to p. 19

ILWU Health Care Delay

There was no disagreement in this approach to fraud investigation considering the high percentage of fraud that’s endemic with out-ofnetwork providers in Southern California— 3 percent of all California claims require particular attention, with sometimes substantially longer processing time versus the less than .1 percent of claims nationwide. The issue has been in mitigating the collateral damage caused by these delays in the vast majority of cases that are not fraudulent and/or the member and beneficiary was not complicit in the fraud.

From the standpoint of the board of trustees, Zenith lied about their ability to solve the Trustees’ health plan claims-processing problems, but acknowledged that CIGNA was largely the cause of these problems. The fact that Zenith made significant headway in solving these problems is the reason the board ruled that firing Zenith was a premature move.

In any case, local providers and rank-andfile longshore workers say they are still dealing with problems of getting claims paid and not having access to long time health providers.

With the ILWU labor agreement ending in June 30, pension language, jurisdictional issues and health care benefits promise to be the dominate items on the agenda.

Effective September 10, 2013:

Lynda Edwards-Moore, Marriage and Family Therapist, Torrance, CA Under the terms of the plan only licensed providers are considered covered providers who may be eligible for reimbursements and for this reason the plan will not reimburse any plan participants or otherwise pay benefits for any claims for services, supplies, tests, or prescriptions provided to any plan participants or beneficiaries by provider Lynda EdwardsMoore, or any of the healthcare service providers ordered by, or working under the direction or supervision of Lynda EdwardsMoore.

than 200 times and becomes a heavier-than-air flammable vapor, which has the explosive power of 55 atomic bombs, according to the company’s own consultant.” (b) “An LPG fire cannot be extinguished, because the means to extinguish it (water or foam) would actually cause it to vaporize faster and to spread.”

As a result, Rutter noted, “If there is a release of LPG both the API [American Petroleum Institute] and the National Fire Prevention Association recommend letting it burn itself out.”

This is the situation we find ourselves in today.

As activists see things, it’s not the environment that the EPA and other agencies are protecting, it’s the polluters. That’s simply the way the rules and regulations have been written and Rancho is exhibit “A”.

After almost 40 years, who’s going to prove them wrong?

from p. 5

Navaii Chiropractic Center, 605 S. Pacific Ave., Ste. 203, San Pedro 90731 (310) 241-0002 Nelson Chiropractic, 310 N. Avalon Blvd.

Wilmington 90744 (310) 830-5616 Optimum Health Chiropractic, 1600 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 831-1447

(310) 519-1557 Total Fitness Chiropractic, 1411 W. 7th St., San Pedro 90732 (310) 831-5550 Ursich, Tim DC, 28633 S. Western Ave., RPV 90275 (310) 832-2622

Pirozzi, Mary Ann, DC, 732 W. 9th St., Ste. 102, San Pedro 90731 (310) 514-6815

Vital Health & Chiropractic Center, Acupuncture, Massage Therapy, 660 W. 7th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 832-4476

Back In Balance Alphabiotics, Naturopathic/ Holistic W. 9th St., San Pedro, CA 90731 (424) 262-0703

Premiere Chiropractic & Sports Medicine, 603 W. 6th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 514-0777

Synergy Healthcare & Wellness Center, Massage, Physical Therapy, 505 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro 90731 (310) 935-2935

Rymenmy Yoga Healing Center, Yoga, Massage, 28374 S. Western Ave., RPV 90275 (310) 990-2945

Transformational Health Services, Naturopathic/ Holistic, 28531 Palos Verdes Dr. East, RPV 90275 (310) 392-9190

San Pedro Health Center, Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, 302 W. 5th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 832-5818

Well Tone Physical Therapy, Massage, 1350 W. 6th St., San Pedro 90732 (310) 547-3331

Schweb, Tony, DC, 870 W. 9th St., Ste. 103, San Pedro 90731 (310) 831-5677

Peninsula Interventional Pain Management Center, 22910 Crenshaw Blvd., Suite A, Torrance 90505, 1294 W. 6th St., Ste. 202, San Pedro 90732 (310) 530-3595

Personal Best, Massage, 643 W. 6th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 548-5984

South Shores Chiropractic, 1611 W. 25th St., San Pedro 90732 (310) 833-3795 Total Body Health & Wellness, Acupuncture, Massage Therapy, 789 9th St., San Pedro, 90731

Pain Clinics

San Pedro Pain and Disc Institute, 757 W. 9th St., San Pedro 90731 (310) 856-7999

January 24 - February 6, 2014

Security was created in the early 2000s, their regulations made it much more difficult for the public to find out about chemical hazards, effectively negating the purpose of the earlier legislation.

(3) Both federal and state programs have foisted off multiple sets of enforcement obligations onto local fire departments, which lack the money, manpower and expertise to do the job. As a result, “enforcement is poor or absent,” Rutter said.

(4) LPG ‘protection’ is essentially nonexistent, for two main reasons: (a) “an impound basin intended to catch the liquid LPG from a tank, will not hold it when it vaporizes (within minutes) and increases more

The People Are Important

has driven many to feel that only Marxism has the revolutionary spirit. Therefore, communism is a judgment against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions we initiated. Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.

With this powerful commitment we shall boldly

The Local Publication You Actually Read

and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: “This is not just.”

It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say: “This is not just.” The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.

A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: “This way of settling differences is not just.”

This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood.

This kind of positive revolution of values is our best defense against communism. War is not the answer. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons.

Let us not join those who shout war and through their misguided passions urge the United States to relinquish its participation in the United Nations.

These are days which demand wise restraint and calm reasonableness.

We must not call everyone a Communist or an appeaser who advocates the seating of Red China in the United Nations and who recognizes that hate and hysteria are not the final answers to the problem of these turbulent days. We must not engage in a negative anti-communism, but rather in a positive thrust for democracy, realizing that our greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice. We must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity and injustice which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows and develops.

barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.”

We in the West must support these revolutions.

It is a sad fact that, because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch anti-revolutionaries. This

17

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from p. 17

King: Beyond Vietnam challenge the status quo and unjust mores and thereby speed the day when “every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain.”

A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.

This call for a world-

wide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. This oft misunderstood and misinterpreted concept— so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force -- has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man.

When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all

of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-ChristianJewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. If we love one another God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Let us hope that this

spirit will become the order of the day. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the everrising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. As Arnold Toynbee says : “Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil.

Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.”

We are now faced with

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS & LEGAL FILINGS or names listed above: November 2008. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/. Susan Portillo, Owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Dec. 11, 2013. Notice--In Accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of

another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 12/23/13, 1/9/14,

1/23/14, 2/6/14, 2/20/14

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2013246108 The following person is doing business as: Playground Fitness,528 S. Pacific Ave, San Pedro, CA 90731, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Jamie Burton, 2211 S. Grand Ave., #1, San Pedro, CA 90731. . This Business is conducted by an individual.

The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/.

Jamie Burton, Owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Dec. 2, 2013. Notice--In Accordance with subdivi-

sion (a) of section 17920.

A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.

The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 12/23/13, 1/9/14,

the developing world—a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act we shall surely be dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.

Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter—but beautiful—struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response.

Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets?

Or, will there be another message, of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost?

The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.

As that noble bard of yesterday, James Russell Lowell, eloquently stated: Once to every man and nation Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth and falsehood, For the good or evil side; Some great cause, God’s new Messiah, Off’ring each the bloom or blight, And the choice goes by forever Twixt that darkness and that light.

Though the cause of evil prosper, Yet, ‘tis truth alone is strong; Though her portion be the scaffold, And upon the throne be wrong: Yet that scaffold sways the future, And behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow Keeping watch above his own.

1/23/14, 2/6/14, 2/20/14

The Local Publication You Actually Read

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2013246109 The following person is doing business as: Lex Litigation Support,788 W.9th Street, San Pedro, CA 90731, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Da’ad Makhlouf, P.O. Box 6067, CA 90734. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/.

Da’ad Makhlouf, President.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Dec. 2, 2013. Notice-In Accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920.

A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.

The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 11/27/13, 12/12/13,

the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late.

Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity.

The “tide in the affairs of men” does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: “Too late.” There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect.

“The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on...” We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation.

We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout

12/23/13, 1/9/14, 1/23/14

January 24 - February 6, 2014

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2013253321 The following person is doing business as: The Sepulveda Home,1138 W. Sepulveda Street, San Pedro, CA 90731, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: The Sepulveda Home LLC, 1138 W. Sepulveda Street, San Pedro, CA 90731. Articles of Incorporation: 201135110057. This Business is conducted by a Limited Liability Company.

The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name

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January 24 - February 6, 2014

Serving the Seven Cities of the Harbor Area